Photos Binh Thuy Ancient House

Information Binh Thuy Ancient House

Characteristics: The Ancient house is a very beautiful residence imbued with features of the southern delta.

The owner of
this ancient house is respected Mr. Duong Minh Hien, an old sentimental
man, by chance, remaining in the 20th century. It is just thanks to its
maintained ancientness that this house was chosen as one of recording
sites for the romantic film “Lover” of producer J. Annaud. The native
homeland of the Duongs' family was originally in Nha Man, Dong Thap
Province, but they moved to Binh Thuy, Cantho and installed themselves
here more than 100 years ago. They are so considered as “creators of
heaven and earth” in this region. By the end of 19th century, this
family became quite rich. At that time, the head of family, called by
contemporary people as “Mr. Ba - council member”, decided to spend his
money and efforts in building a house “for nothing” (?), only for
showing antiquities. The construction was started in 1870 on an area of
approximately 8,000m². According to respected Mr. Duong, at that time,
a master with the name of Ba Nghia - but people used to call him by
master Lo Ban - lived in this region, who was able to make very nice
houses.

It was
noteworthy that he had a strange physiognomy. His height accounted only
for one meter and some centimeters, while his backbone was so twisted
that his silhouette looked like a “question mark”. Throughout the
years, he remained half-naked wearing only black satin breeches and
wound a red silk turban round his head. The master Lo Ban had two
inseparable things: a marker and an axe. With this “treasure”, he
completed an uncountable number of perfectly round ironwood pillars.
The conditions that the council member Mr. Ba posed were quite serious
– “You should make my house splendid much more than others', it is
unquestionable; but the problem is to make it sure that after the house
is finished, I should become richer”. The master Ba Nghia thought for a
long while and said: “But, but, in my profession, if the customer makes
his fortune, I'll immediately fall unlucky”. “No, no, don’t worry. I
guarantee that I'll monthly provide you with 3 pecks of rice and some
pieces of silver whenever you're alive”.

Nobody knew
exactly how this story continued, but local people blabbed that the
master Lo Ban certainly used amulet or talisman, because otherwise, the
council member Mr. Ba couldn't become rich so fast. Letting aside these
rumors, one must acknowledge that the master Ba Nghia was a top-ranking
artisan-artist, when he was able, only with an axe, to construct a
5-compartment house with all close-fitting joints. It was said that the
construction lasted for 20 years. In the house there is a coach set
placed just before the altar. It is a souvenir of the respected Mr.
Duong's grandfather. It is said that to make this set of ironwood
chairs, a craftsman, native in southern provinces, had to carve dragon-
and phoenix-shaped details as precise as in millimeters. One
particularity is that while the chairs are so big and so heavy, their
legs are as thin as children's wrist. Another craftsman named Dong Van
Chiem, native in northern provinces, was charged of inlaying pearl
vignettes. Nowadays, after more than hundred years, these vignettes are
still brilliantly shining with their “five colors”. As other houses of
landlords in the “region of six provinces” (Mekong Delta), the owner of
this house also hired craftsmen to make a balustrade, connecting the
ironwood pillars in front of the altar. In this case, however, the
originality resides in the fact that the vignettes on this balustrade
do not comprise any old Chinese classic references as others. Instead,
all vignettes included here represent daily popular scenes of the
common people: from crabs, chickens till ivory bamboo branch or clump
of trees. Is it true that the craftsmen’s inspiration was to glorify
the peaceful atmosphere at that time dominating rural areas in the
southern provinces?

According to
the respected Mr. Duong's stories, his grandfather was named Duong Chan
Ky, whose souvenir is a portrayed picture, now solemnly hanging just in
the middle room. An originality of the picture is that it was made in
enameled terra-cotta with details as veritable as that of present
photographs. It is said that such a technique of making pictures was
known only in France and China since the end of the 18th century.
However, the writing in Chinese on the picture confused me, whether the
craftsmen from Ben Nghe knew this technique. If it is true, the issue
needs to be more studied. The picture has experienced so many events;
there was a time when it was buried into mud to avoid bombing, but did
not suffer from any harm. This family still keeps numerous cups, bowls,
plates; all of which have a noble origin. The oldest objects are a bowl
from the Ming Dynasty in China with an age of 572 years and a big
flower-vase with an age of nearly 533 years.